Jury Selection Begins In Lil Boosie Murder Trial

Jury selection in the murder trial of Lil Boosie has begun. As of Monday (April 30), 700 residents of Louisiana’s East Baton Rouge Parish were selected as potential jurors in the pending murder case. The large number, up 200 people from the usual 500 citizens chosen at random, was narrowed down to 150 people, who filled out a questionnaire to gauge their ability to serve on the jury.

Once the screening process is over, only 12 people will be chosen to decide the fate of the 29-year-old. Given the high-profile nature of the case, extra security has been brought into the courtroom, as a precaution.

Boosie, born Torrence Hatch, is suspected of paying for the 2009 murder of Terry Body. Prosecutors in the case will use his lyrics as proof of his involvement in the shooting, but Boosie’s defense attorney maintains that his client was not involved in the murder-for-hire, noting that his lyrics prove nothing. “Torrence Hatch wrote some of those lyrics,” said his attorney Jason Williams. “There are other artists who wrote other parts of the lyrics. The lyrics have nothing to do with this crime. He’s a rap artist. He has thousands of lyrics.”